When you have a kid everyone warns you about the terrible twos. I was so prepared that I'm pretty sure they didn't even happen. no one seems to tell you about the 3/4 year old boys.
Mason will be 4 in may, and sometimes he acts like a hormonal teenage boy. All of a sudden I'm being faced with a little pint sized human telling me that "its not fair,you don't need to shout at me, you're so mean I'm going to my room" the list goes on. with everything i ask him to do i get a growled response with a stop of his feet, like seriously what is this.
I decided to do a bit of research. some say at age 4/5/6 boys have a peak of testosterone and that's reason for their behaviour but then others say that its just their age, they want to play play play play and play some more but at this age they're getting ready to start school and be told to keep still. while there's no actual evidence to say that little boys even have a testosterone surge many parents still put this down to the reason as to while their perfect little boys are acting out.
All i can say is Mason is only happy when hes running, screaming, climbing over the furniture, fighting, wrestling and telling me we're not friends. so how am i tackling this new behaviour?
1. try new activities- Mason and i have never been a fan of soft plays, hes always preferred finding his own little area if we ever went.so i was on the search for a small little soft play, and i found one so small were often the only ones in there. we now go once a week and he looks forward to it. We also do lots of baking and painting.
2, Get them outdoors. With the cold weather its so easy to just stay in and stick on the TV but fresh air is good for everything and everyone. but honestly 30 minutes out side will do them the world of good to get rid of some of that extra energy
3. Go along with their imagination. Masons imagination amazes me daily, the little scenarios he makes up are great and its easy to just nod and say " yes babe" but I found if i try and get involved as much as possible his little face lights up and he asks to play with me more, which gives him less time to shout orders at me.
4. Let them be kids. as annoying as my child jumping over my sofa is, and banging my candles on the table tops, my house isn't a show home[ as my partner keeps trying to tell me] This is his house too, he should be able to play as much as he wants, where he wants and with what ever he wants [ within reason].
5. try not to take it personally. Most days mason tells me hes going to tell his dad that Ive hit him[when i haven't], shouted at him and that he only loves daddy. Sometimes i get all silly and wonder does my child even like me. but when hes not being a crazy little nearly 4 year old i do get the occasional kiss and "i love you " until daddy comes home from work and i get a punch in the face. I know he loves me.
with all that being said i think its just giving your child the time of day. Put the phone down for a bit and really play. Its something i want to do more. After dinner when your tired make time to sit down and build that track or play that game they've been nagging you about all week. while I'm no expert, nor do i have lots of kids for experience any human being knows what makes another human happy and if that means all my sofa cushions are on the floor because masons made a make believe trampoline land then so be it.
